Campaign Diaries, 2022

France, Campaign Diaries, 2022

Guillaume Herbaut

On assignment for Le Monde, Guillaume Herbaut criss-crossed France, from Colombey-les-Deux-Églises to Marseilles, to capture the atmosphere of the presidential campaign for four weeks, until the evening of the second round result.

Colombey-les-Deux-Églises, 17 March 2022

Portrait of René Piot, on the parking lot of the Charles de Gaulle Memorial.
René Piot has been the flag bearer of the Gaullist amicale of Haute Marne for more than twenty years. He was the last visitor of the General. On November 9, 1970, at 2:30 p.m., he went to Boisserie, the home of the de Gaulles. He has told the story a thousand times. And yet, when you hear it, it seems like it was yesterday.
Mrs de Gaulle was knitting in the living room, the General received her in the study. No drink was offered, but an agreement was reached for a problem of farming. M. Piot was a farmer. “The next day, like all French people, at 8 a.m., I heard of his death, I was shocked. Can you imagine? I was the last person to see him, to shake his hand.”
“Today, they all refer to de Gaulle, there is not only the right, there is the far right, there is everyone who comes here, it makes you smile, what.” In Colombey, the memory of De Gaulle is not only in the speeches. The proof is that the town hall has just welcomed 80 families fleeing the Ukraine. A form of resistance.

Lorient, 19 March 2022

Her nickname is “topyou” on Le boncoin.fr (French version of craiglist). She sells a SEB yogurt maker, a connected watch, Adriana Karembeu’s glasses clips and Eric Zemmour’s latest book, La France n’a dit son dernier mot (France hasn’t said its last word). She always sells the books after reading them. She gave an appointment on the parking lot of the Lidl, boulevard du Scorff, where she arrives with her Mini. She is 58 years old. She is the manager of a co-ownership company. She is divorced without children. She will not vote Zemmour in the first round.
“He does not have the stature, (…) I have been voting Le Pen for a long time. In 2002, it was already the case. For me, immigration is the most important issue. I am afraid of the “great replacement”. Of course, for the Ukrainian refugees, it’s good, but maybe we should think about the French first before we can help them. In France, there are too many burdens and, in order to succeed, our young people have to go and work abroad. No, they will not be immigrants, but expatriates.”

Paris, 22 March 2022

During a city council of Paris, in the council room of the city hall, Anne Hidalgo in the center and the Ukrainian ambassador in France, Vadym Omelchenko, as well as all the people of the council make a minute of silence for the victims of Ukraine war before granting unanimously the citizenship of honor to the city of Kyiv and a humanitarian donation of a million euros.

Amiens, 24 March 2022

Portrait of Patrice Sinoquet, CFDT trade unionist, in the abandoned premises of the Whirpool company.
“It’s Chernobyl here! An industrial Chernobyl!” Patrice Sinoquet shows the abandoned premises of the Whirlpool company, with his colleague Frédéric Chantrelle. They accompanied the departure of the 300 workers who manufactured tumble dryers. “We were doing mutual terminations at 57 years of age so that people could go to 60 with their unemployment pension.” In front of a series of photos of colleagues, they remember Alain. He died of hearth attack two months after his dismissal. “He was 58 years old. He had worked here for thirty-five years. He had bought a camper van to enjoy life with the money from the negotiations. He enjoyed the idea but didn’t drive it.” They see the photo of Didier, the former shop steward who had trained Frédéric Chantrelle. “Same thing, hearth attack at 62, on February 5, 2016. He didn’t get a year’s worth of retirement.”
The politicians? They met Le Pen on the parking lot, during the presidential campaign in 2017, then Macron. “The great circus, for nothing. Nuts. The bogus takeovers, on the other hand, the sadness of the people, it’s still there.” Macron returned twice to Whirlpool. The factory closed anyway.

Mantes-la-Jolie, 25 March 2022

There is a queue at the entrance of the Hunting Show in Mantes-la-Jolie. Men, mostly. Inside there are rifles, rabbit targets, African safaris, clothing, taxidermy and a ball-trap shooting range. One can meet Antoine Diers (on the left of the photo), deputy director of Eric Zemmour’s campaign strategy, accompanied by Christophe Hameline (in the center), from the hunting commission of the Reconquête! party. Windy hair, dark glasses, they shoot. To the two young militants of the “hunters with Zemmour”, they demand “an official photo”.
“We came to explain to the hunters that there was only one candidate who was a true supporter of hunting.” They arrived “a small hour ago”, strolling, admiration in front of a “manly” rifle, shaking hands. One is surprised that there are no other politicians. Antoine Diers leaves thirty minutes later. Christophe Hameline tracts at the exit of the Show before returning to Paris, avenue Montaigne.

Dijon, 28 March 2022

A crowd bath like a ballet. A hundred people, 82 journalists, bodyguards and, in the center, Emmanuel Macron. It was his first “real” trip as a candidate, to Dijon on March 28. People shout, touch him.
We hear “Macron president!”, but also “Macron resign!”.
A teenager: “Macron, the blood!”
A woman: “With gasoline, we can’t take it anymore, please help us!”
A man: “Retirement at 65, we can’t anymore, we don’t want it.”
We carry him children, we take his hand. We don’t want to let him go. Everyone wants a selfie. The dance continues for more than an hour and a half. And, far away, a little girl shouts: “Macron, are you there? What are you doing? Where are you going?”

Oise, 30 March 2022

Portrait of Yannick Jadot, ecologist candidate for the presidential, during a campaign tour in the Oise region.
8:45 am: the bus of the campaign team of the ecologist candidate, Yannick Jadot, accompanied by a dozen journalists, leaves Paris for Conchy-les-Pots, in Oise. An hour and forty-five minutes of driving. The last row was taken by a team of young photographers. Yannick Jadot sits in one of the first rows. They took his favorite place. From the top of his 1.89 meters, he cannot extend his legs between the seats. Chocolate bread, rest and jokes accompany the trip. We joke about the electric pylons along the A1 highway. “They are frankly beautiful, the wind turbines of Xavier Bertrand.”
10:30 am: the bus stops in front of a vending machine of baguettes. Visit of a new but empty health center, because of a lack of doctors. “It is not possible that 10% of the population does not have access to a doctor.” There must be “a mandatory installation of doctors during their first three years”.
11:21 am: The bus leaves. Still not the right place for Jadot’s legs.
11:43 am: strolling through the town of Margny-sur-Matz and its 550 inhabitants. The ecologist mayor, Baptiste de Fresse de Monval, talks about the problem of transportation.
12:51pm: lunch in the last open business of the village, the small inn. We hear that the boar terrine is very good, but today it is chicken and beans. In the middle of the meal, Jadot and his team discreetly slip away to paste the poster of his campaign, far from the photographers. “We did it without the media, otherwise we would have kept only this image of the day. The important thing is to talk about rurality.” At the same time, the photo appears on the candidate’s Instagram account.
02:22 pm: departure for Paris. “Ah these buses! I can not extend my legs!” “Do you want me to tell them to leave your seat?” “No, it’s okay, leave the place to the young people.”

Saint-Cloud, 31 March, 2022

Portrait of Jean-Marie Le Pen, former candidate of the far-right Front National party.
“I’m waiting to go to the Elysée. I haven’t been there myself, but when my daughter is elected president, she will invite me, I hope! Not sure. No, but by then, I would have stopped being compromising.”
Jean-Marie Le Pen sits at his desk on the second floor of the family mansion in Montretout, in Saint-Cloud (Hauts-de-Seine). His museum. Him in photos, him in paintings, him in drawings. Stacks of books, the extreme right-wing newspapers Présent and Rivarol, Front National pennants and a figurine of Joan of Arc. He has just received his voter’s card.
“What do the people want? Bread and games! The games are on TV! (…) I did a lot of campaigns. I travelled all over France by car, taking many risks. When there were not yet speed limits, with my driver, we drove at 210km/h on the highways. (…) The fact that my granddaughter, Marion [Maréchal], supports Zemmour has no importance. Before, he had 12%. Now that she supports him, he makes 10. (…) Doesn’t the color of my tie bother you? – It’s perfect. – What does the people ask!”

Orvilliers, 2 April 2022

The person in charge of the ceremonies’ protocol of the prefecture of the Yvelines has just had a little fright. The President of the Republic’s wreath was delivered at the last minute. Everything must be ready at 11:00 a.m. sharp for the ceremony in tribute to Georges Pompidou, on the 48th anniversary of his death, at the Orvilliers cemetery. The wreaths are lined up according to the protocol’s order: first the one from the memorial association Le Souvenir français, then the ones from the family, the mayor, Marie Flis, the Yvelines departmental council, the senator, Sophie Primas, the deputy, Bruno Millienne, and finally the president’s.
Mickaël Letellier, third deputy mayor, and Xavier Marot, first deputy mayor, raise the flag and prepare the sound system to launch the Marseillaise thanks to a telephone. They remove their tricolor scarves, the protocol allowing only that of the mayor.
The three flag bearers arrive, followed by about ten people. Alain Pompidou, the adopted son of the presidential couple, can be recognized by his hat and blue scarf. “My father was the true successor of General de Gaulle. General de Gaulle was France, Georges Pompidou was the people of France. He was turned towards others. Today, many politicians are not. (…) He has no political heir (…), but people reread his speeches, especially the one in Chicago, which was a founding speech for the protection of the environment.” Minute of silence, laying of wreaths, a bouquet flies away, we launch the Marseillaise, the sound system does not work. We finish a cappella.

Paris, 3 April 2022

On the walls of pavilion 6 of the Parc des expositions at Porte de Versailles, the posters “La jeunesse, c’est Pécresse!” (Youth is Pécresse!) surround the audience of 5,000 militants. A hundred young people of the party Les Républicains give everything for the last big meeting of Valérie Pécresse. They shout: “Valérie! Valérie! Valérie!” They sing: “If you vote for Valérie, clap your hands!” They chant: “Macron is Hollande!” They try to launch, in the middle of the speech, a Marseillaise, without direct effect on the room. They still believe in their champion.
Behind them, in the first row, older militants are not in a very good mood. At the name of Sarkozy, they don’t know if they should boo or applaud. They chase away the photographers who are blocking their view: “Sit down, down!” And ask the young people to keep quiet: “Shh! we hear nothing!” At the end of the meeting, after the call of Valerie Pécresse, “Join us! Join me!”, the young people go on stage. Some dance. Others take selfies. The old people have already left.

Essuiles, 5 April 2022

Portrait of Jimmy Leboucher, dog trainer.
“In the presidential election of 2017, in the duel Macron Le Pen I had blank voted, today I will vote Marine Le Pen.” Jimmy Leboucher bites the campaign poster of Nicolas Dupont Aignan to prevent the wind from blowing it. He is the departmental referent of the party Les Patriotes, of Florian Philippot. He is 41 years old. He works in the dog world.
“I am a trainer of competition dogs. You really learn to recognize a dog by its bite. A politician, you have to study him, analyze the character. Macron, he’s like a dachshund. He is always at 100,000 volts and gets agitated for a yes, for a no. Marine is more like a bulldog. The grumbling side, more or less settled and you have to wake it up a little so it understands.”
He joined Florian Philippot two years ago. His first political commitment. He has never felt close to Jean-Marie Le Pen, finding him too “racial, like Zemmour”, yet in 2002, he voted for him in the second round. “I was in total contradiction with him. But to see demonstrations against the Front National, that revolted me. I found it undemocratic. And knowing that he was not going to pass, I voted for him, whereas I was more for Chirac. Disappointed by Nicolas Sarkozy (“the referendum on Europe, it was a betrayal”), he voted Dupont Aignan in 2017 and 2022. Sunday, April 24, it will be “everything but Macron”.

Trappes, 5 April 2022

It is at the very last minute that the doors of the cultural hall of the Merise, in Trappes, open. The militants of La France insoumise come to attend the meeting in hologram of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, which takes place in twelve cities of France simultaneously. Standing in front of the stage, one thinks of the first spectators of the magic lanterns.
The mayor of Trappes, Ali Rabeh, and the deputy of Seine-Saint-Denis, Clémentine Autain, have the role of animators: “We are the descendants of the revolutionaries of 1789, of 1848! Of the Commune! Of the Popular Front!” “Invade the social networks! That’s how we will show both our divorce, pardon our diversity, and the strength of our collective.”
A call to write checks to fund the campaign, then it’s black. Everyone looks at the scene. Mélenchon appears. He is no longer in the light. He has become light. Everything is meticulous. On stage, the optical illusion of the hologram is perfect: the image is reflected on a plane inclined at 45 degrees. But only by shifting, it tilts and becomes distorted. To see the hologram perfectly, you have to stay upright.

Plailly, 10 April 2022

Karine is waiting in front of the Discobelix attraction at the Parc Astérix. She came from Bourges with five friends: “We had already booked our tickets and we did not know who to choose, so we did not go to vote.”
One attraction ride later, there are Carole, Claudette and Margot, three generations of women who came from Carvin (Pas de Calais), with a group of 10 people. They all went to vote this morning before leaving. “We did our homework!” they say, laughing.
Further on, Adeline and Florien stroll through the “Asterix’s Adventure” exhibition. They are in their thirties, come from Lyon and work in a laboratory: “We did not vote today. In any case, we would have voted blank. We don’t see ourselves in any program.”
Patrick and Nathalie did vote. “But you know, we are 68 and 67 years old, so, whatever the result, we are not worried.”
In the Roman arena, Gauls and legionnaires fight under the eye of Caesar. Caesar asked the audience to vote for the winners of the events. A parody of democracy. It’s up to the one who will shout the loudest. The public, unanimous, supports the Gauls. At the exit of the park, one of the guards has just had the number of visitors of the day: “7000, it is less than expected, but you know, today, it is a big day, it is the one of the elections.”

Saclay, 13 April 2022

We are greeted by smiles. We are welcomed and offered coffee. There are some huts made from wooden pallets. In the middle of the fields, along the departmental road 36, in Saclay (Essonne), a zone to defend (ZAD) fights against the construction of the line 18 of the Grand Paris Express since May 2021. This subway should connect Orly to Versailles through the plateau of Saclay. For the photo, the whole group gathers and holds the banner. “The arrival of the metro is the first step to concreteization, it is the Trojan horse of the plateau urbanization.”
Lorine has spent her entire life in Orsay, the neighboring town. After doing a thesis in genetics, she is going to change careers: “I’m going to become a farmer.” “Before I didn’t really have a militant background. It’s important to become aware of your territory. Citizens need to reappropriate territorial development because it affects us all.” The result of the first round of the presidential election? “I am sad. On one side there is capitalism, on the other fascism. Neither one is fighting against climate change. There is no hope.”

Perpignan, 15 April 2022

More than 700 penitents of the Sanch procession walk under the sun in Perpignan. They had not met for two years. They maintain a tradition of more than six hundred years created by the Dominican Vincent Ferrier, who preached the act of penance to save the world torn by war and religious divisions. Jean-Louis watches them from behind his camera. He is not a believer, he talks about Catalonia.
“In Paris, people don’t understand that you can have two identities at the same time. I was born Catalan, I speak Catalan, and I also feel French. They can’t take that away from me. Marine Le Pen? There’s a Catalan saying that goes “You haven’t lifted your foot that I’ve already saw your sole”. And Macron? He’s a banker. I’m pissed off, but we can’t let the far right pass.”
At the end of the procession, Christian, a penitent, raises his capirote, the traditional hat. “Behind my hood, I enter myself as in a voting booth. I haven’t stopped thinking about the war in Ukraine. This is our home, in Europe. The Ukrainians I have met tell me that here is paradise.” Further on, another penitent: “There is a time to laugh.” And then, he cries.

Marseilles, 16 April 2022

“Louis XVI, you have been beheaded! Bourgeois, we can do it again!” A dozen “yellow vests” gathered in front of the PMU (french version of the OTB) café Le Pharo. Just in front of the exit of the meeting of Emmanuel Macron.
There is Florence and her husband, Jean-Paul: “I will fight to the end, sir! The government wants us to become beggars.” They are both retired from the restaurant business. “Between the two of us, we earn 1,500 euros a month. We are forced to do distribution in mailboxes for Carrefour, Leclerc. It is survival, sir. That makes us earn 500 euros more. We still have the 600 euros loan from our apartment for three years and there are the charges.”
Around: “Macron fascist! Thief! Blinder!” The tone rises. A man wants to hit anyone with a video camera or a camera. On the other side, dressed-up pro-Macron activists are waving flags. There are women from the northern neighborhoods: “We’re not going to vote Le Pen after all! It’s always the same, for a game or for the presidential elections, people, they kill each other!”

Bois de Vincennes, 18 April 2022

“We have to tell President Macron that there is Prince Serry who lives in the Bois de Vincennes and is really waiting for a gesture from him.” Prince Serry, a Franco-Ivorian musician, is 59 years old. He makes reggae music. He lives in a tent since 2014. But he is not cut off from current events: “On Sunday I’m going to vote, we have no choice.”
Born in the Ivory Coast, he spent part of his childhood in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. His father was a chartered accountant. “In 2010, I wanted to return to Côte d’Ivoire. I was going to create a music school and festivals. I had taken a container with 300,000 euros of equipment and more than 3,000 CDs of my album Prisoners of Babylon.” Civil war broke out. The port of Abidjan was looted. His equipment stolen. In 2012, his political positions disturb, he is arbitrarily arrested and sentenced to prison.
When he returned to France in 2014, he had nothing left. His only refuge: the Bois de Vincennes. “Since then, I am in the dungeons. I play in theaters, festivals. This is my job, even if I have no place to sleep. ”

Paris, 24 April 2022

We are in Serge’s cab. He voted Mélenchon in the first round and Macron in the second.
At 7:20 pm, Charis, 24 years old, waitress in a restaurant of the 1st arrondissement, gets in for a ride. She voted twice “useful”. The first for Mélenchon, and the second for Macron. “Even if I consider that he also makes a policy of extreme right. He is not affected by the situation overseas, nor by that of the refugees. He is setting up an unfair system.” She goes down in the 6th arrondissement to join her mother and watch, anxious, the results of the election.
Yves, in his fifties, replaces her in the back seat. “I don’t care about the results. I don’t vote. Even if I am more Le Pen than Macron. This is the end of the Republic, the end of civilization. We are vassals of the United States.” He goes out at the town hall of the 15th.
It is 7:45 pm. There is hardly anyone in the streets. The cab is driving. The radio is on. At 8pm, Serge is relieved. He takes Halime who has just arrived from Cameroon. She is a French expatriate. “I had made a proxy. One should not have one’s vote stolen. I voted Macron. More than 41% for Le Pen, it’s very strong.” She stops on the Champs-Elysées.
A Greek couple enters. They came to celebrate the Orthodox Easter with their sister in France. The presidential convoy passes in front of the cab. “We were very worried about the result. In Greece, we have the same extreme right-wing parties. This victory is ours too.” They dine at the Pavillon Ledoyen. Serge continues to the Champ-de-Mars. President Macron has just finished his speech. The public goes up on the stage. The party is already over.

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